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I was hesitant to getting into NBC’s Poker Face television show because of its name. I thought it was some Lady Gaga thing or about some casino show. The title is deceiving, because it’s really a “crime of the week” television show about Charlie the human lie detector. The pilot was phenomenal, it managed to setup Charlie’s character and her situation.
I do have some gripes about the show: I don’t really love the lead actress, Natasha Lyonne. She basically plays the same character from Russian Doll, which I love Season 1… but that character got super annoying. In Poker Face she’s also trying to channel Columbo or something. Don’t get me wrong, that no-nonsense, I don’t give a flying F attitude is really fun at first… but after a while, it just gets old.
My other complaint is that the show doesn’t know if it wants to be a comedy or a crime drama. Some episodes are just way too silly, like “Exit Stage Death”, which is about Ellen Barkin and Tim Meadows plotting a murder while being live on stage…. Or “Time of the Monkey”, which is about a couple of retired ladies who murdered a resident in their retirement housing. I don’t mind a goofy time, but how can I take the casino mafia threat seriously if the show is a comedy?
So far, from what I’ve seen, my favorite is the pilot and “Rest in Metal”. This is about a has-been/one-hit wonder band DoxXxology. They had a massive hit single called “Staplehead” and the song became the band’s curse. You see, the song was written by their drummer (who shortly retired after making millions off the royalty), and DoxXxology has to play that song every night. It sounds like the band hates the song, but they must play it.
So the band hired a new drummer via Craiglist and he demoed a song he wrote to the band… and the band knew the song was a hit. They plot to murder the new drummer and steal his song. In the end, DoxXxology got their just deserts, and it’s an awesome ending.
This episode teeters funny and dread, especially when you spotted John Hodgman in the scene, looking for his wife “Molly” or finding his friend “Lucy”. The band itself, Ruby Ruin stars Chloë Sevigny, Chuck Cooper, and John Darnielle - who is actually the guy from The Mountain Goats. I’m pretty sure Darnielle wrote the song for the show, singing “Living on discount macaroni. Can't even get a job with my Uncle Tony. You sent your goons to repo my truck. What the actual f***. I can play guitar and I’m a decent singer, they’ll cut my wedding ring off my dead finger. You say you want a deal but you’re such a phony. You’re never going to get that alimony.”
I like the song, but the lead singer, Ruby Ruin, called it “a turd”.
Later, after the murder, Darnielle would write a song, confessing their wicked deed: “You must learn, you’re all gonna burn, because you can’t unmurdered someone.”
Anyway, the human lie-detector thing is pretty neat. It reminded me of another show called Lie To Me, starring Tim Roth. That show has a similar premise, in which Tim Roth can tell if someone is lying, based on “science”. His group, the Light group helps solves crime with law enforcement.
The season finale to Poker Face aired today, March 9th.
I do have some gripes about the show: I don’t really love the lead actress, Natasha Lyonne. She basically plays the same character from Russian Doll, which I love Season 1… but that character got super annoying. In Poker Face she’s also trying to channel Columbo or something. Don’t get me wrong, that no-nonsense, I don’t give a flying F attitude is really fun at first… but after a while, it just gets old.
My other complaint is that the show doesn’t know if it wants to be a comedy or a crime drama. Some episodes are just way too silly, like “Exit Stage Death”, which is about Ellen Barkin and Tim Meadows plotting a murder while being live on stage…. Or “Time of the Monkey”, which is about a couple of retired ladies who murdered a resident in their retirement housing. I don’t mind a goofy time, but how can I take the casino mafia threat seriously if the show is a comedy?
So far, from what I’ve seen, my favorite is the pilot and “Rest in Metal”. This is about a has-been/one-hit wonder band DoxXxology. They had a massive hit single called “Staplehead” and the song became the band’s curse. You see, the song was written by their drummer (who shortly retired after making millions off the royalty), and DoxXxology has to play that song every night. It sounds like the band hates the song, but they must play it.
So the band hired a new drummer via Craiglist and he demoed a song he wrote to the band… and the band knew the song was a hit. They plot to murder the new drummer and steal his song. In the end, DoxXxology got their just deserts, and it’s an awesome ending.
This episode teeters funny and dread, especially when you spotted John Hodgman in the scene, looking for his wife “Molly” or finding his friend “Lucy”. The band itself, Ruby Ruin stars Chloë Sevigny, Chuck Cooper, and John Darnielle - who is actually the guy from The Mountain Goats. I’m pretty sure Darnielle wrote the song for the show, singing “Living on discount macaroni. Can't even get a job with my Uncle Tony. You sent your goons to repo my truck. What the actual f***. I can play guitar and I’m a decent singer, they’ll cut my wedding ring off my dead finger. You say you want a deal but you’re such a phony. You’re never going to get that alimony.”
I like the song, but the lead singer, Ruby Ruin, called it “a turd”.
Later, after the murder, Darnielle would write a song, confessing their wicked deed: “You must learn, you’re all gonna burn, because you can’t unmurdered someone.”
Anyway, the human lie-detector thing is pretty neat. It reminded me of another show called Lie To Me, starring Tim Roth. That show has a similar premise, in which Tim Roth can tell if someone is lying, based on “science”. His group, the Light group helps solves crime with law enforcement.
The season finale to Poker Face aired today, March 9th.
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